Nevermore: Art Studio

Xavier took a longer time than usual getting back to the dorm, so Y/N felt like he has no other choice but to double-check and make sure he was okay. He went to the guy's art studio to see what was going on, and so far, it looks fairly quiet from the outside. But a red-light bulb is on, signaling that at least someone was in there. Hands in his jacket's pockets, he simply walks inside, expecting him to see that Xavier's just a little too absorbed in his painting, and technically he is.

But Y/N can't help but freeze when he steps inside. Hearing the door open, Xavier finally turns around. "Oh, hey...." The Psychic nervously greets as he turns himself around on his stool. "What are you doing here?" He asks curiously, but then sees that the kid is staring wide-eyed at his painting. 

That's because it's showing the perfect illustration of the Hyde. 

"Y/N?"

"W-What is that?" Y/N can't help but ask as he points towards the painting itself. Xavier squints at him until he glances back at the painting. "A new kind of furry trend you got going on or something?" 

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Xavier remarks with a look before standing up to let Y/N get a better look. "It's a.... a dream thing. A few days ago, I started seeing the same thing. A forest, it's dark, a little bit of fog, and then..... and then this thing would appear at the end of the dream every time." He shares with the fake psychic as he steps towards the painting with a haunted expression on his face. "It's gotten to the part where I've got it photographed in my memory."

"That often?" Y/N questions with a raised brow, his eyes still on the painting itself. The monster is lashing out at something from a first-person perspective, as if telling the last few seconds of someone's life before they lose their head or is getting their chest nobbled on. "Is it like a.... a Final Destination kind of warning?"

"Most of the time, yeah...." Xavier confirms with a sad nod, causing Y/N's face to turn even more sorrowful as he stares at the painting with this new context in mind. Is the dream trying to tell a story about someone? Is he getting the same visions Wednesday is getting, just in a different manner? "You know what's the creepiest part about it, though? The part that makes me unable to sleep at night?"

Y/N looks towards him with a curious squint. "What?" He asks with a voice that is terrified of what kind of answer he is about to get. Xavier looks at him with a black expression. 

"I always feel like..... like I recognize the face that monster wears whenever I see it. Even though I've never seen something like that before." Xaver shares with Y/N, his shows that he means it from the depths of his heart. "Wait a second, is this the kind of thing that might have killed Rowan?" He then asks out loud, slowing starting to believe the monster theory more and more, now that he's getting these dreams.

"Um...... possibly-"

*ARGH!*

Before he can blink, a huge, clawed hand suddenly shoots out of the painting and grabs Y/N by the throat. "Oh, shit!" Xavier exclaims in shock as he sees his roommate choking on the massive hand. The two watch as his own painting suddenly comes out before their eyes. The Thorpe grabs a knife from the wooden table and slashes at the arm, and the monster lets out a screech of pain as it lets the boy go.

However, it doesn't take this punishment too well as it brings it's other arm out of the canvas and slashes the side of Xavier's neck, causing him to fall and collapse against his paintings and a chair with a pained yell. "Xavier!" Y/N calls out his name, prompting the monster to snap it's head back towards him.  

The boy crawls away in fear as the monster pulls the rest of itself out of the canvas and begins marching towards him with murderous intent, gnawing and growling at him. It pauses a bit though and squints at the red light, smashing it to bits. Y/N can now only see the monster's eyes as it continues towards him, but that reaction gives him a quick idea.

 The monster roars before raising it's claw and swiping it at him. Y/N acts quickly by grabbing a random painting and protecting himself with it, the claws only damaging that instead. He then throws it towards the monster's eye, causing them to flinch and grab at it in pain for a few seconds, allowing him enough time to look for the light switch and turn it on. Now, the brighter orange light flashes, and a few seconds later, the monster screeches before melting back into liquid paint.

After a few seconds of heavy breathing, Y/N takes a moment to process what just happened before remembering his friend. "Xavier!" He calls out to him again, marching over to the mess in the center of the studio. "Xavier, you alright?" 

He marches over and sees him slowly standing up, prompting him to grab him by the arm and help him get back on his feet. "Yeah... yeah.... " Xavier confirms with a nod, though lets out a soft hiss in pain as he feels his scratched neck, Y/N can see the marks himself and they do not look good. Guess those paintings hurt.

"Geez man that thing almost tore your throat out." Y/N comments with a wince as he eyes the poor guy's wound. That painting took a lot of skin from the guy's neck, looking like it was inches away from reaching a jugular.

"Yeah, if it wasn't a fake, I probably would've died if that happened to me again." Xavier notes with a shaky voice before the pain comes back again like a boomerang. "Damn it..... I should've known that was going to happen again...."

"Again?" Y/N quotes him out loud, staring at him like he's just witnessed a mad scientist's experiment that's gone horribly wrong. "You're telling me there's been more than one wicked witch incident that you had to melt?"

"Rarely, but I think it's because I have a hard time controlling my powers." Xavier explains before leaning against his wooden table, glancing down with a face of shame. "I'm sorry, I don't know what happened. I asked you that question, and then I was just staring at it for a few more seconds, and then..."

"Relax, you don't have to worry about it too much." Y/N assures him with a raised hand as he takes a break himself. However, Xavier doesn't seem to believe him.

"But you seemed so scared when you saw it, even more when it came back to life." Xaiver points out, before staring at Y/N with a pointed look. "Have you seen it before?" He questions him, causing the other boy to look at him with a conflicted expression. 

How much should he tell him without looking like a serial killer? 

Or is he possibly that serial killer?

_____________________________________

Jericho: Morgue

The body of the squatter that was harassing Wednesday has been found dead in the forest almost six hours after she left that place. Is that a coincidence? She thinks it's not so. After all, the monster tracked her down to the piece of old Jericho, a possible sign that she was getting somewhere people didn't want her to be, like someone who knew she has visions.  Interesting, interesting....

It smelt like a lead, so now she's broken into the medical corner of the small little town where she plans to smell it down to the source. Thing is obviously able to fit through the vents, much dirtier than the movies portray them as, while being as less clatter-y as he can be. He opens the grate up and spots a camera, so he prepares his fingers before he jumps down and disconnects its wiring. 

After which, Thing jumps down onto the ground and crawls up a wire leading to the buttons belonging to the garage doors of the morgue section of the examiner's building. He presses the correct one down, allowing Wednesday in her special break-in clothes to step through without a single alarm being raised, if there is one.

Wednesday turns to her friend as he re-closes the door. "While I do the autopsy, you find the files of the monster's other victims and make copies."  She instructs him as she immediately marches towards the cold shelves, to which Thing gives an offended reaction. "Don't pout, your scalpel skills are questionable." She responds as she lays her tools down on one of the empty table's. Tonight's the night, indeed. "Do you remember on my thirteenth birthday when Uncle Fester gave me that cadaver? You sliced through that man's carotid." She points out, and Thing just shrugs in response. He didn't stop moving, what else did she expect to happen?

Thing reluctantly walks out while Wednesday goes through the row of bodies, the first being the decapitated head of the hitchhiker. "No."

The next one has a weird skin thing going on that clearly has nothing to do with the murders. "No." She says, though takes a moment to eye his skin condition. "Magnificent hematoma...."

The third one, however, has a lot of stiches, a heavy gut, and a beard, the perfect description of who she saw before his brutal demise. "There you are." She says out loud before pulling out the tray. She eyes it curiously while pulling out a voice recorder and turning on the button. "Thursday, seven-twenty-three PM. The body is that of a fifty-year-old male." She begins, holding up the sheets to get a better look of the aftermath. "Lacerations and defensive wounds appear on both hands. What remains of the chest and torso indicates a frenzied attack. Subject has been almost entirely disemboweled." She comments, before noticing something even more off with the corpse. "This is curious..... subject's left foot is missing. It appears to have been chewed off at the ankle."

Before she can comment more about this interesting detail, however, the door to the morgue opens, and Wednesday turns to see Thing stepping back in. Perfect timing. "Have you seen a left foot anywhere?" She asks him, and Thing shrugs no, before frantically signing that someone's car is pulling up to the building. "Calm down, who's coming?" She asks, but the hand just orders her to hide quickly.

Wednesday mentally groans before closing the body back up and retreating into the....

Ah, what's the best hiding place here for her....?

Wait, of course.

"Appreciate you coming back to the office, Doc." The voice of Sheriff Galpin emits through the other side of the door as footsteps get closer and closer. 

"No problem, Sheriff. Whatever I can do to help." The medical examiner replies in an Indian accent. The sound of the door unlocking eventually echoes across the room before the two adults step in, not seeing any sign of anyone else being in here. "Whatever or whoever is responsible for these killings in all my years, I've never seen injuries like them. I thought you should see this before I issued my report on the latest victim. It's a real noodle-scratcher." She tells the Sheriff as he walks over to a fridge with the man right behind him, opening it to reveal the eaten foot of the squatter. "The killer cut off two toes from the victim's left foot. Best guess, they used a surgical saw. The final autopsy report's still pending."

"The minute you're done, send it straight to my desk." Galpin orders as he stares at the unusual human-based injuries with an undying curiosity. He literally saw photograph of the monster that killed the squatter, but now there's human tools added to the mix as well? Is this some kind of werewolf, kind of, situation? "Media blackout on the toes." He also adds, not wanting other people to get a hold of this information as an excuse to spread misinformation or panic.

"Sure thing, Sheriff." Doctor Anwar replies with a complying nod, prompting the sheriff to give him a grateful look before turning to leave. "Been a busy couple of weeks, huh?" The morgue guy comments as he closes his fridge, forcing the other man to turn back around to acknowledge his words. "At least I'm going out in style, Friday's my last day."

Galpin nods in acknowledgement with a smile, looking glad for him. "Happy retirement, Doc." He says before turning to leave.

"Gonna surprise Mrs. Anwar with a four-week cruise." The doctor continues, forcing the Sheriff to turn around again. 

He hums in response before turning to leave...

"Excited to trade rib shears for mai tais." The doctor continues again after another pause, forcing the Sheriff to again turn back around. Now, all that's left is an awkward silence as Anwar wonders why the heck he's just standing there as if expecting him to talk some more. "See yourself out. I'll lock up."

Oh, for the love of...

The Sheriff walks out, leaving the medical examiner to do close the rest of the building. As Anwar grabs his coat, however, he notices that one of the bodies has been left open, pouring out a small portion of icy mist onto the floor. He walks over and investigates, sliding out the tray to reveal Wednesday Addams's body. "I don't remember this one coming in..." He notes to himself as he pokes at it, feeling a strong chill as it barely flinches from the touch. "Full rigor, you've been dead a while. Guess you won't mind waiting another day for me to cut you open, hmm?"

He smiles humorously before closing her back up, and fully this time. Anwar then finally leaves the room, none the wiser. After a few seconds, Thing pops out from his hiding place and crawls over to open Wednesday back up, only to see her smirking as she stares blissfully up into the air. "Five more minutes." She requests, not wanting to leave the pleasure just yet. "I was just getting comfortable."

Since no one will be back for a while, Thing decides not to question it as he closes her back in.

__________________________________________

Nevermore: Boys Dormitory

Y/N wonders if he would've earnestly enjoyed Carrie when it first came out and he wasn't spoiled about every single thing regarding the film. Despite it just being a face-slapper movie, depending on how you see it, he does feel for the main character that it's named after. But.... it also makes him afraid, because it makes him wonder if he can end up being that kind of monster. If he does, he would want to end up flipping the script, and dump pigs blood on the people instead of it being dumped on him.

While watching the movie in the longue, however, he notices something weird with Ajax's eyes. They aren't staring at the television screen, but starting into space instead. Squinting, he decides to test that theory by grabbing one of his grapes and throwing it at his face, causing the guy to actually jump when it hits him. "W-What? What was that?"

"What was what?" Y/N asks with a small shrug, playing dumb. Ajax squints at him before turning back to the television screen. A few minutes later, however, the Gorgon has the same look in his eyes. So, the L/N kid grabs another grape and hurls it as his face, causing the same exact reaction.

"It was you!" Ajax deduces as he points an accusatory finger at Y/N who just raises a brow in response to him. "What the heck is wrong with you, man?!"

"No, what's wrong with you?" Y/N redirects the question back at him, causing the guy to blink nervously at him. "Despite being more high than usual, eyes redder than a girl's period, you look like you're completely depressed." He points out, starting to feel a little bit concerned about his sort of-friend. "Are you okay man? Did something happen with Enid last night?"

"What? No, no..." Ajax quickly denies with a shake of his head, but his embarrassed expression betrays the obvious lie. Y/N raises a skeptical brow at him in response, causing the guy to scoff at him. "What? It's true."

"You stoned yourself, didn't you?" Y/N quickly calls out, realizing the only thing that could get a gorgon shamed like this. Judging by Ajax's reaction for the first few seconds, he got it right on the money.

"W-What? No-"

"He most certainty did." Xaiver Thorpe's voice instantly chimes in despite Ajax's protests as he walks over and leans against the couch they are both sitting in, causing them both to glance up at him. Y/N smirks while the gorgon glares in embarrassment. "I'm the one who found him before anyone else did. He's lucky he didn't get put on hashtag, self-stone."

"Okay, fine, yes, I did." Ajax finally admits with a tiny sigh, his face showing his true emotions. "It was a complete accident, okay? The towel on the mirror fell off, and now Enid probably thinks I showed her up on purpose. She's never going to forgive me for this."

"Just explain what happened." Y/N suggests with a 'duh' kind of expression, not seeing that someone like Enid wouldn't believe him. She sees so much good in anyone, even Wednesday, and that was in the span of a week. "She'll completely understand."

"No she won't, no one believes a stoner, especially since the most famous one was known for stoning people eternally, and for fun." Ajax retorts as he peels his eyes away from them, causing Xavier and Y/N to share a look as if wondering if this guy is being serious right now. "Have you seen the looks she's given me? They'd kill a Vampire."

"That's because she doesn't know the whole truth." Xavier points out the obvious, thinking it would be very simple for even the Gorgon's brain. "You gotta tell her, or she'll think you punked out for the rest of her life."

"Man, you guys just don't get it." Ajax accuses with a glare, standing up and marching away. Y/N and Xavier watch him go to the snack table before sharing a strange look with each other. Wow, talk about anxiety-stubbornness. Even all that weed isn't chilling him the heck out, and that's saying something, knowing the guy who got caught red-handed by Wednesday while gossiping about her, and acted nonchalant about it.

"That guy is doomed..." Y/N comments with a sympathetic face, to which Xaiver agrees with a shake of his head. "You think he'll actually man up?"

"He'll have to, if he wants to invite her out for the Rave'N later." Xavier mentions with a knowing expression, causing Y/N to blink before immediately realizing what he's talking about. It's basically a special name for the winter dance, because Outcast things must be labeled differently. 

"You just had to remind me of that, did ya?" Y/N remarks with a self-degrading chuckle, knowing that he's going to be flying single when that event happens. Actually, that reminds him of something. "Speaking of which, are you gonna invite Bianca?" He queries Xavier, who snorts in response.

"You're funny."

"Worth an ask." Y/N claims with a shrug, causing Xavier to humorously shake his head at him with a chuckle. The L/N glances back at the movie playing on the television, and the body on-screen reminds him of another thing that he wanted to bring up. "Hey, you hear about what happened in the forest?" He then tells Xavier as he walks back towards, causing the guy to turn around with a perplexed hum. "Is there anything else people are saying?"

"You mean the body that was found a few days ago?" Xavier queries with a raised brow, to which Y/N nods. What else is he talking about. The psychic glances down with a mixed expression. "Nothing much, other than it was mutilated pretty heavily, like the other bear victim. Poor guy..." He testifies, causing the other boy to glance down disappointed, until he blinks when he processes the choice of words Xavier chose.

"Wait, guy?" Y/N questions out loud, causing Xavier to blink at him. "As in, only one body?"

"Yeah." Xavier confirms with a sure nod, Y/N's reaction causing him to squint at him. "Was there supposed to be more than two?"

Instead of giving him an answer, Y/N grabs his back and walks away, leaving his roommate completely confused by his strange reaction. He tries following him, but stops when he feels the sharp pain in his neck re-surfacing. "Ow...."

Meanwhile, Y/N walks out of the dorm and down the hallway to the quad, only to accidentally bump into someone while turning the corner. "Oh crap, I'm sorry, I-"

"Y/N?" A certain female voice rings out, and Y/N re-opens his eyes to see Divinia standing right in front of him. Clearly, she's seeing just how weirded out he was just a second ago before he hit her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, don't worry about me." Y/N quickly dismisses, fixing his jacket while also giving the Siren a look for acting like she actually cares. He passes her to walk away, but stops mid-way. "Hey...... do you know where-"

"Shhh!" Divina quickly hushes him, looking around in a panic before dragging him into an empty corner of the school before Y/N can even say anything. "Sorry, I just can't let everyone know our secret." She reminds him before clearing her throat and crossing her arms. "Do I know what?"

Y/N rolls his eyes before finishing his sentence. "Do you know where the best clothing shop in Jericho is?" He asks her, earnestly curious. "I need a suit for the Rave'N, I've kind of come unprepared for that whole thing."

"The Rave'N?" Divina reacts weirdly as she looks Y/N up and down with a raised brow. "You actually plan on going?"

"Yes, I actually plan on going, what did you expect?" Y/N questions with a look, seeing Divina then hesitate for an answer. "Actually, you know what? Forget it." He dismisses as he abruptly raises a hand before she can open her mouth. "You're right, why would a loser like me actually go there?"

"Y/N, wait." Divina pleads as Y/N then tries to walk away for real this time. "I didn't mean-"

"How else did you mean it? You're literally still ashamed to be associated with me, even after the Poe Cup." Y/N points out as he gestures towards the public area, causing Divina to go silent once again. "But I get it, status over yourself, right?"

He finally gets himself out of her sight before she can find some other excuse to make him stay for a few more seconds, mentally scoffing to himself.

Unbelivable......

That aside though, he also thinks about what Xavier told him. One body? And it was the squatter's? What the hell happened to Mr. Craven? Even if it was in a secret hatch dug up thousands of years ago, it should've been found eventually due to how Y/N found it when he was there, and it felt like it was pretty easy to detect.

He needs to figure out who's hiding these bodies, and find a to prove that one, at the very least, exists.

________________________________________

Nevermore: Conservatory

Wednesday has finished murder board that she's recently added to the dorm room. All of it contains what Thing was able to bring from the Medical Examiner's, plus a little extra from themselves. Seeing all of this now, she wonders how she didn't make such an obvious connection before. It honestly makes her feel like somewhat of a fool. However, it has also made Enid faint roughly half a dozen times, so she should probably move it somewhere else before she runs out of smelling salts.

Turns out, all of the monster's victims have had body parts surgically removed. The first one lost a kidney, the second one lost a finger, the third one a gall bladder, and the squatter, who we mentioned, lost a few toes. Not only is a monster savagely tearing people apart, but someone is collecting pieces like a serial killer with trophies. It's quite impressive, actually.

"Wednesday." Y/N snaps his fingers at the girl's face, bringing her back to reality where botanical sciences are still taking place. "Are you okay? You're doing the staring thing more than usual." He reminds her with a hand gesture that the lecture had already started ten minutes ago. 

"I'm fine." Wednesday simply answers with a blank face, causing Y/N to shrug as he'll just have to accept that as an answer. Then, she hears a feint grunting, and glances over to see Xavier looking like he's in pain while he puts his sketchbook away. "What is wrong with your roommate?"

"What's that?" Y/N asks before following her gaze and seeing who's she's looking at. "Oh, uh.... tweaked his back while fencing, I guess." He quickly lies with a shrug, only to feel Wednesday's eyes daggering at him for his weird response.

".....While most plants reward their pollinators with sweet nectar, many carnivorous varieties turn to sexual trickery or deception to." Thornhill continues on, seemingly not noticing the two students talking amongst each other despite her yet. Bianca and Divina have interesting facial reactions to the plant's description. "The orchid produces a pheromone that mimics a female insect, luring the males in."

"Hmm.... that sounds familiar...." Y/N quietly mumbles to himself, though Wednesday barely catches it, and subtly watches him glancing over at the table left of them where Bianca and Divina are sitting. This makes her go back to that one time she heard them talking in the dorm room. Even after confronting him about it, she still feels like she doesn't know the whole picture surrounding them.

And for some reason, that makes her irritated. 

"Now, once the plant is pollinated, what do the male insects get in exchange?" Thornhill then pops the question for the class, and almost instantly, Bianca is the one who raises her hand. The teacher points to her.

"Nada, just like all the guys at the Rave'N." Bianca answers with a bit of sass, prompting the class, mostly the females, to snicker in response to that. Once again, it's that darn winter dance. Is Wednesday the only one that doesn't care about it that much?

"Okay, okay. I know you're all excited about Saturday, which is why I haven't assigned any homework." Thornhill assures the entire classroom, who all cheer and clap gratefully in response to that. "But I do still need volunteers for the decorating committee. Anyone interested, come and see me, up here."

With the period pretty much over, everyone stands up to either walk out or walk towards Thornhill to accept that offer. Wednesday, on the other hand, stays where she is for a little bit longer, wonder what she's going to do with all this free time that's just been given to her. "What, you're not going to volunteer?" Y/N queries playfully as if surprised, prompting the girl to turn to him. "Aren't you pumped about disco balls and spiked punch? Xavier told me there's even a DJ, MC Blood Suckaz."

"I would rather stick needles in my eyes." Wednesday bluntly responds without missing a beat, causing the expected Y/N to cackle in response, obviously seeing that response coming. Putting the image in her head makes her think a bit. "I'll probably do that anyway."

"What? Impossible..... you wound me, Ms. Addams." Y/N quips with a horrible medieval noble impression as he packs up his books with a cheeky smirk. "Me neither, I bet. No one's gonna ask the man with a record out, Poe Cup winner or not. I'll probably just use my special privileges to get myself a movie marathon." He suggests as he stands up, before turning to Wednesday with a curious brow. "You watch scary movies?"

"Seeing monsters behind a screen are tedious and often predictable, I prefer to see the real thing in person." Wednesday answers confidently, to which Y/N shrugs, not surprised since she's going through it right now. "Unless you are talking about the stories of a girl and a boy constantly falling in that disgusting art, love, a million times."

"Yeah, totally what I meant." Y/N says before making a weird face for himself.

"You two just love beating yourselves up that much, huh?" A third guy chimes in, prompting both to turn as Xavier walks up to them with a somewhat snarking smirk on his face. "You know, you could, and be ready because this might shock you, invite someone to it and have a little bit of fun." 

"I already gave my answer on that matter." Wednesday states with a look before standing up and marching past the both of them, obviously not finding any entertainment in that idea. Y/N then glances at Xavier with a pressed smile.

"Yup, she's going to be asking you out, eventually." Xavier tells Y/N with a seemingly knowing expression, causing the other guy to blink at him. "Just give it some time."

"Why would she ask me?" Y/N queries with a confused brow. Xavier double checks to see if he's being serious before snorting as he walks away. "What?" He asks him, earnestly perplexed by his logic. The psychic shakes his head at him, which accidentally pokes at his wound, causing him to gasp again as he grabs at it. Though, he quickly hides it when he remembers that other people could be watching him. "Dude, you need to get that checked out."

"Not here." Xavier protests with a look before speed-walking to his next class, leaving Y/N to worry about how the sudden attacks' been affecting him. Little do they know, Wednesday is watching them from a few feet away, squinting at the psychic's obvious body language. Not only that, but she can see a small bit of those scratches under his Nevermore uniform's collar.  

Something's wrong with him.....

____________________________________

Nevermore: Art Studio

And that's why she's now here a couple hours later, having followed him out of the school and into this strange small building in the middle of nowhere that he walked into. He seemed to have gotten rid of his band so his hair could cover up the scratches, but it's too late, she's seen the visual clues for herself.

"We need to do this." Wednesday justifies her actions to Thing who is standing on her shoulder by his fingers. "Xavier didn't get those scratches from fencing, meaning either Y/N has poor judgement or is lying to us about him." She tells him in a confident voice that knows she's right. There's something that one or the other isn't telling her.

As soon as she sees Xavier walking out of his studio, Thing crawls back into her bag and Wednesday marches into the building with a mind of a mission. Making sure the door is closed behind her, she looks around to find some kind of light. She eventually walks over and pulls on it, which causes it to reveal a strange set of paintings. All of which, contain the face of the monster that's been stalking her, no matter which pose, color, or body it is in. 

"I suppose every artist needs a muse." Wednesday comments quietly to Thing and herself. That aside, that just makes it even more clear to her that Xavier is closer to the murders than Y/N has let on, even more so when she grabs two tiny sketches from a wooden table, one like they were painted by a child, and one showing overly perfect imagery of the photos the squatter's camera took before and during the brutal murder. "Xavier, you just became a lot more interesting."

She turns the light bulb back off and decides that this will be enough for her curiosity for now. She pockets the drawings into her inventory before walking out as carefully as she did in. However, despite her apparent silence, it still isn't enough thanks to the unpredictable magic of bad timing.

"Wednesday." A familiar male voice calls out to her, causing Wednesday to freeze mid-walk. She slowly turns around and sees Xavier coming from the side of his secret shack way from campus. He walked out just to circle around it? How wonderful, she even made sure not to get caught this time.

"Xavier, hello."

"What are you doing?" Xavier questions her as he walks towards her with a pointed look, clearly not liking that she just randomly showed up to his hobby without a warning, and her unusually nervous reaction upon seeing him. 

"Nothing. I just saw you come out here." Wednesday half-lies, the best thig she can do right now. With the dirt that she's just found, it's probably not best to take the standard blunt questioning approach like with the tired actor in Pilgrim World. "What is this place?"

"It's.... kinda my private art studio." Xavier explains with a seemingly uneasy tone of voice, looking like he's trying his best not to show nervousness the second she talked about it. "I cleared it out and fixed it up, so Weems let me use it."

"How very entrepreneurial." Wednesday comments rather passive-aggressively, still not able to fully hide about her feelings surrounding their beloved principal even when she's playing coy. "I would love to see inside. Why don't you give me a tour?" She questions, causing Xavier to stare at her for an awkwardly too long amount of seconds before replying.

"N-Not right now, me and Y/N were rousing each other up, and it kind of got a little messy. Bad time, wrong place, you know?" Xavier quickly declines while making up a random excuse for it, an excuse that Wednesday obviously detects for obvious reasons. She knew it, they're hiding something. "I'm sorry, do you need help with something? Are you looking for someone?"

"No, not at all." Wednesday calmly declines while glancing towards the art studio's doors. "I've seen the sketches in class. I'm just curious to see your subpar attempts at surrealism." She claims as in character as she honestly can be. However, that still earns her a look from Xavier in response.

"Uh-huh...." Xavier hums skeptically, obviously not believing her in spite of the straight face she's putting up. "You made it very clear to me before that you hated the animal sketches. Try again." He challenges her, narrowing his eyes. The pressure is now on Wednesday as her eyes search for an excuse, knowing that if she endangers the wrath of someone that could be an accomplice to murder, it will end badly for her. Not Vlad bad.

"I was-"

"Wait, hold on, let me guess." Xavier interrupts her, a teasing grin slowly creeping up his lips, a sight that makes Wednesday a little bit uneasy. "Was I right in that you were looking for someone? Someone that you may or may not have been talking with for the past few weeks?"

Wednesday glances side-ways, unable to betray herself with an excuse like that, but knows that she has no other choice. "Depends on the person."

"Come on, you know who I'm talking about." Xavier accuses Wednesday with that grin that thinks it knows something still on his face. "You came here because you want to know how you can ask Y/N to the Rave'N Saturday, haven't you?"

The question itself makes Wednesday stiffen in her place, having not expected for even that question. Her and Y/N? That is a whole new kind of crazy dream, not the one she would wake up smiling to. But on the other hand, seeing Xavier with his arms crossed like he's about to witness something funny makes her feel like she's caught between her cover and him realizing that he went inside. And so, she blurts out the first thing that comes to mind. 

"Yes."

Xavier blinks rapidly, his expression turning from teasing to surprise. "Wait, seriously?" He asks her, having expected another, 'I'd rather jump off the bridge and survive by a hair's inch while feeling all of the pain that comes after' kind of answer. 

"Is that so hard to believe? That I may be interested?" Wednesday queries him, committing to her bit, even if she's mentally shocked by what she just said. Xavier opens his mouth, but then pauses when he glances over the girl's head, his smirk returning. 

"You should probably..... turn around."

Wednesday's eyes slowly widen as she realizes what Xavier's implying. Hesitantly at first, she slowly turns around to find Y/N L/N standing there behind her, having apparently been walking up to the studio during the process of them talking. "Is this.... a bad time?" Y/N asks them with a mentally baffled-like expression.

"Not at all." Xavier says with a proud face, walking past the two of them and patting Y/N on the back. "You're welcome, and you owe me ten bucks." He tells him before leaving the two to handle their now established business. 

With him gone, Y/N then slowly turns back to Wednesday, who's ability to just stand there with a dead face doesn't help the awkwardness he's feeling right now. "Was he..... was he being serious?" He asks her as he gestures towards where he left, before turning that head towards her. "We-Were you being serious?"

Wednesday is about to easily deny it, knowing that Y/N would understand if she told him in the truth in comparison to the Thorpe. However, she then quickly takes into account that Y/N blatantly lied for his roommate about the scratches on him, meaning that he likely knows where they truly came from. Also, unlike Xavier, Y/N L/N has a clearer motive that could tie him to recent events. Meaning....

"Yes." Wednesday bluntly answers with that simple word a second time. "My leads have currently run cold as of late, and with nothing else to do, I have considered taking part in a zoo pit's version of dancing. I am not a stranger from it." She mentions, having taught herself some moves here and there. The answer makes Y/N obviously even more taken aback, judging by his eyes. "So...?"

Y/N stares at her for a few seconds, processing her words before clearing his throat. "So what?" He asks with a shrug, causing Wednesday to squint at him.

"Are you really going to make me ask?"

"Well, I'd imagine you'd cut my tongue out if I challenge your independence by doing the 'manly' thing and asked first." Y/N remarks with a humorous shrug. As much as this is an act, Wednesday must admit that he has a sharp-edged point there. "But, if you're nervous, I can-"

"I can do it." Wednesday is quick to cut him off, causing Y/N to hum as he then stands there, waiting. She takes a deep breath, mentally preparing for this shed of humanity she will be forced to show. "Would you...." She starts off strong, only to trail off, her lips licking her gums. "Would- would you..... would..." She clears her throat, annoyed at these mental interruptions. "W-W-Would-Would you possibly consider going to the Rave'N dance with a certain...." Right as she finds the words, she loses them again. "Would.... would you go to the dance with me?"

Once it finally comes out of her mouth, Y/N looks admittedly surprised, as if not actually expecting her to be serious about the claim. But after a few seconds, he shows her a modest smile that he tries to hold in from becoming a grin by pressing her lips together. "Sure, why not?" He answers with a shrug, now looking like it's his turn to play confident. "Thank you for asking me."

"It is no problem." Wednesday responds in an attempt to sound 'teen-ish' before walking past him and leaving the art studio area as well, leaving a surprised but Y/N behind to process what just happened. Honestly, he feels a little too happy about it, more than what he expected. He never knew that someone asking him out would feel so right again. 

Is it because it's Wednesday, or something more? 

Then, he quickly remembers the actual reason he came here, causing him to go wide-eyed as he turns to find Xavier again.

"Shoot!" 

_________________________________________

(A/N) Finally back with this!

Sorry for the long wait, I had a huge writer's block when it came to this episode. But thankfully, the motivation has come back, as I managed to write this entire chapter in the span of a single day, so thank you for still believing in me. I'm now confident about what I am going to do, so don't worry, the entire fourth episode will be all finished sooner rather than later.

I also hope that this chapter also makes it clearer that Xavier doesn't have any feelings for Wednesday in this fanfic, as that will end up going nowhere here. (I don't know if I mentioned that yet, so I'm just stating it fully here, just in case) I wouldn't even know how I would make it fit in here.

Anyway, plz vote and comment, any counts as feedback, and I'll see you all in the next one!